So if you’re looking for something a little more edgy to do this summer in Warsaw then you should spend an afternoon visiting the Gallery of Steel Statues exhibition which is currently happening in the Palace of Culture & Science. What exactly are we talking about here? Yes, it’s a bunch of enormous statues of cartoon, movie and science fiction characters made entirely out of steel scrap metal by a crazy Polish artist.
Mariusz Olejnik (a.k.a. Jose Angel) has created these incredible works of art out of used scrap metal donated by the public to his workshop in Pruszków. His gallery of art is actually right at the scrapyard in Pruszków (20 mins drive outside of Warsaw) which is where we first heard about it and visited. However due to the popularity of his work, a number of statues were brought in to the mezzanine level of the Palace of Culture & Science centre in central Warsaw. The statues are quite amazing to behold; intricately put together with thousands upon thousands of tiny steel parts all welded together. There is a 2m high Bison made entirely from welded 1cm diamater nuts; a number of luxury cars including Lamborghini’s and Audi’s all with working doors and moving wheels (yes, you can open the doors and sit in them) and of course – my favourite – a 5m tall replica statue of both Optimus Prime and Megatron from the Transformers cartoon series.
We’ve been twice to this exhibition; once with a friend of ours from Singapore and a second time with my parents. Each visit you could find something more to look at. The popular characters include Shrek, Winnie the Pooh, the T-800 Terminator, Alien, Predator, Superman and even The Iron Throne from Game of Thrones! It’s definitely a must-see on a rainy day in Warsaw if you want to see something a bit different. If you miss the exhibition in the Palace of Culture; they will always be on display at his scrapyard in Pruszków.
Gallery of Steel Figures
ul. Przejazdowa 17 (Pruszków)
Admission: 25 PLN (adults) / 12 PLN (children/seniors)
